Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Two months after we moved into this house we started on the first of two fireplace makeovers. The fireplace surround in our family room consisted of some small, white trim around the brick and a very small, low profile mantle ledge about 6" above the trim. The ledge was only about 4" deep and pretty much unusable as a mantle. The look was so different from the fireplace in our living room that it just felt like there was a disconnect that happened somewhere in the original planning. The living room fireplace is big and grand while the family room's fireplace surround was small and barely noticeable. So, naturally, we had to fix that!

We (and by "we" I mean my handy man husband!) took down the mantle ledge, but left the white trim that surrounded the brick. We could use that in our design. We proceeded to build up the surround piece by piece to make it more of a presence in the room. Fluted columns were added to the sides and planks of MDF were stacked on top to make the support for the mantle.

Even the small details on this ended up making a big difference...

The original plan was to stop after adding the new mantle, but I decided that it needed something more...

My handy man built a frame for above the mantle to house beaded board and more trim. The next step was to paint it all out in white. That's where I come in...

The finished product!

It makes such a huge difference in this room and now the family room and living room have a cohesive look.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Your fireplace project is absolutely gorgeous! Your vision was dead-on and your hubs work is truly fantastic. Your fireplace looks so similar to the one we have. The only difference is ours has panels where your beadboard is. Sheesh. I'm leaning toward the beadboard look now.